Today online music service last.fm released the new design they've been working on since May. At first glance it looks quite different to the Facebook-like UI that we saw in the beta in June. However as we noted in our review of the beta last month, the beta UI was much criticized - so the fresh lick of paint is probably due to that user feedback (and, as you can see in the screenshot below, the new header literally looks like a lick of paint!).
The launch today was disrupted by server issues, but as of writing the service is running smoothly. The main changes are a fully visible library, more comprehensive Last.fm music profile, iPod / media player sync, real-time charts, "instant recommendations", activity feeds, a new music player, improved sharing, and podcasts. Also an iPhone app was launched earlier this week.
As noted in our previous review, last.fm has had many navigation issues in the past. The new design is supposedly simpler, but the navigation issues aren't completely resolved - for example now a drop-down list has been added to the top right, but I'm not sure that's going to be intuitive enough for many users. Still, the new navigation is an improvement on the old one. Although it couldn't be much worse, in all honesty.
Here's a quick visual look at the evolution of last.fm's new design:
Current (new) design - the 'Lick of paint' design
Beta design circa June 08 - the 'Facebook design'
Old design
A reminder that last.fm is an online music service, which can be enjoyed via a desktop software app or within the browser. Last.fm is built on top of a very impressive music recommendation database called AudioScrobbler. See our February '08 post about last.fm for full details on how last.fm works.
Also last.fm recently released a new version of their public API, which allows any application or device to achieve deep integration with the Last.fm platform. Perhaps this is one of the reasons behind media player VLC's new support of last.fm, announced today too. Overall, it appears that the now CBS-owned online music service is keeping pace in the fast-moving web 2.0 world. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Comments
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The new design is fine, it's the fact that I can't play my playlist in the desktop app that's frustrating me!
Posted by: dalziel.myopenid.com
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July 17, 2008 5:06 PM
This is crap. The old design was much more intuitive and much more better.
Posted by: dH | July 17, 2008 5:11 PM
I'm in love with it
Posted by: Gordon Swaby
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July 17, 2008 6:58 PM
I really do like it, and the fact that I'm not stuck to 30 second samples on artist pages like before.
Posted by: cmiper
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July 17, 2008 7:39 PM
not bad. and page loads seem to be a bit faster these days. for a while i stopped going to last.fm because page loads were so slow.
Posted by: kayvaan | July 17, 2008 8:52 PM
i love the new design.
my issues with the site, not the design per se, are around the playlists and queuing new songs on a playlist that is currently playing. maybe i haven't toyed around with it enough, but it seems really restrictive, and not very casual user friendly...
i do love the addition of the library, i ahve like 3400 artists in my library, great to see that represented on the web with no effort, and not just in my file system and itunes...
Posted by: buster | July 17, 2008 9:07 PM
looks like a step backwards in design, its full of bugs, and i've got e-mail from my last-fm inbox missing ?
Posted by: q | July 17, 2008 9:27 PM
yes it's cool... like facebook like
but now, people can't download my music
annoying
hope it will change
http://www.lastfm.fr/music/Missing+Host+Band
http://www.lastfm.fr/music/CIRC
Posted by: CIRC/MISSING_HOST_BAND | July 18, 2008 2:50 AM
Its lovely and the fact that charts are updated in real time is even better!
Posted by: Rahul Das
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July 18, 2008 3:17 AM
I like it. Much cleaner and clearer. A much needed overhaul.
Posted by: Todd Brunner
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July 18, 2008 3:22 AM
Going to do a post on this redesign, good eyes those guys have over the road in LDN :-)
Posted by: Matt Harwood
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July 18, 2008 3:24 AM
Personally I'm not a fan. Prefer the old one.
Posted by: Mo Kargas
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July 18, 2008 5:06 AM
I love the new design. The old one was the main reason why I didn't visit the website frequently.
Posted by: Oli Kenobi
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July 18, 2008 5:57 AM
I love the new design as well. I think it works great and I will definitely be spending more time there.
Posted by: Nick Munson
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July 18, 2008 6:11 AM
I would say the old design was way better. The song that comes to mind is :
Jet - Look what you've done :)
There are probably a few good things about it, like I liked the bigger thumbnails of artists in the library section and few other minor changes.
But overall, probably the old design was more soothing to the eye. They should atleast get rid of the shocking red color of the header!
Posted by: Ankit Ahuja
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July 18, 2008 6:14 AM
I agree, the old design was better; a bit over glossy, but smooth. The new look appears somewhat messy and unfinished.
I do like that it's more open and lessens the squared/boxy organization of the old design.
Also not a fan of the left nav, too old-skool for me.
Posted by: metaeuphoria | July 18, 2008 9:11 AM
New design is fine, but I prefer old black layout. Why they've removed it? :-(
Posted by: klisiu | July 19, 2008 5:43 AM
I HATE THE NEW DESIGN SO MUCH! LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING PLAYGROUND! ITS THINGS EVERYWHERE :@ CHAOS!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Strappado | July 19, 2008 2:13 PM
I'm warming to it. I think they've taken a few steps back with the navigation and that it takes more clicks to do something you want to do. Before it was quicker to use. But I'm sure there will be further changes to make it more usable.
I miss the artist blankets :(
Posted by: Paul | July 21, 2008 7:09 AM
I had made a account and uploaded the music onto my music player, and if you don't want to upload your own music,you can search on other users playlists and take any songs you want! It works for piczo,myspace,facebook,bebo etc at www.hypster.com
Myspace Playlist”
Posted by: john | July 24, 2008 11:18 PM